


My Life Would Suck Without You

by Smuggries



Category: Trolls (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Comedy, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Happy, Light-Hearted, Multi, Original Character(s), Romance, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:09:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26153200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smuggries/pseuds/Smuggries
Summary: Branch Timberlake has worked at Trollstopia Highschool for a fairly long time, alongside one of his coworkers; Poppy Kendrick. Poppy was loved by every student at school and a good chunk of the students tended to have little crushes on her. She was the most perfect teacher in the entire school, and sometimes he just couldn't stand it! He was always perceived as the boring and grumpy teacher, could Poppy could help him change that? Come join Branch and Poppy in their daily routines as teachers and coworkers together![Tags and/or Rating may change throughout the story.]
Relationships: Branch/Queen Poppy (Trolls)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 18





	My Life Would Suck Without You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Branch and Poppy are assigned to work with each other as their classes merge, afterschool shenanigans ensue.

He had always admired her, sipping his coffee from across the staffroom. Every day he'd peer from above the rim of his cup. Watching her plan out her classes. She always made the students smile, and worked hard to do it too. He was kind of jealous of how likable she was to the children. Considering they saw him as the 'boring' teacher. May come as a surprise, but Branch worked better with kindergartners than he did any other grade. Younger children were easier to handle and he felt more comfortable around them knowing they couldn't judge him. But he was stuck with the fifth graders. Poppy worked with the same grade, just a different class. So he'd often have to work alongside her when their classes merged for anything like special events such as Christmas concerts, etcetera. Poppy was, energetic.. to say the least. She always knew how to make the kids smile or control them. If somebody got hurt she would instantly tend to their wound as if she were their mother. She'd give them a safe space to open up when they were too scared to outside in the world.

And in the staffroom, she was the same. All the staff loved her, and not just because she was one of the few younger staff but because she was just that perfect. Cheerful, funny, bubbly, outgoing, everything that would just make you want to be friends with her instantly. Creek's flirting with her didn't go unnoticed, especially by Branch. Creek didn't mean any harm, he just really liked her. And who could blame him? She was the epitome of cupcakes and rainbows. All things good in the world compacted into a pink hair dyed human sunshine. She had freckles and made some stupid joke with her class that each freckle on her face was like them as stars in the sky. So she used that as a metaphor for keeping her class close to her no matter how far she was. It was cute. Stupid, but cute.

She was so perfect. So perfect it frustrated him. He couldn't stand being around her. Just looking at her made him exhausted. She wasted all that energy on being hyperactive when she could've put it all into teaching her class. Lunch breaks were when she'd talk to him. So many other people to bother yet she chose him. It was weird. Constantly came uninvited or visibly unwelcome yet stayed anyway. She'd even make sandwiches for him some days. She'd tell stupid jokes, or spill out fake news which they'd end up bantering about for a few minutes before one of them decided to be the mature adult and just agree to disagree. One thing Poppy loved to talk about was her class, he had assumed she was bragging about them at first and how well behaved they were. But turns out, she just loves her class to bits. He found it adorable. No denying that a teacher being able to be so happy with her students was something adorable. He didn't find it adorable because it was her, just because the concept of that is adorable.

When walking by her classroom window, he'd often see her smiling or being dramatic while acting to make her class roar with laughter at her antics. They all loved her. He'd never forget that one time she had caught him staring through the classroom window and smiled at him. It sent a strike right through his heart. It was so genuine, that classroom must've had some weird happiness drug cause he swore every time he walked by they were always smiling. Or doing something silly, or hugging, or doodling, or sitting in a circle with intent interest on their faces, or dancing around and singing gleefully without a care in the world.

Sometimes he was convinced Poppy's brain capacity was pretty much the same as her students considering how clueless she was sometimes. Although her cluelessness was just something that made her class love her even more. But she was smarter than she seemed, just in her own. Little... Poppy way. But don't get him wrong, it's not like he hated that. She just was naive at times. He was always perceived as a boring teacher. To which he couldn't care less, but when Poppy got hired he couldn't help but feel a little jealous of how well she worked with them all.

And tomorrow their classes were merging for the Spring festival. So here he was, sitting with her in his classroom way after school hours planning out what their classes should do. Chairs and tables were all stacked neatly and pushed to the side of the classroom that was nearer the hallway windows. "I think we should do a concert." She sat on one of the tables that were on the side swinging her legs back and forth. "Some kids are anxious about that, wouldn't be the best idea." He didn't pay any mind to her, he was still finishing grading some of the work from earlier today on his computer. "Well, what can we do that they'd be comfortable with?" Before he could even answer her question she gasped with excitement. "Hugging booth!"

"Germs. Unsanitary. Could spread diseases." He didn't even look at her from the corner of his eye. He didn't have to in order to tell she was pouting. Despite being an adult, although arguably the youngest staff member— she acted an awful lot like a child. "But everybody loves hugs!" She flailed her arms and he could see her reflection through the window. An attempt scowl on her face that she was miserably failing at. He finally gave in and spun around in his chair to look at her. "They're at an age where they don't find those things cute anymore. Sorry to say, but your little class is growing up, Poppy." He put his elbow on one of the arms of the chair and rested his head in his hand. "Well yeah, I know that. But I also want to remind them to hold on to their childhood as long as they can."

She walked over and his eyes followed, leaning with her hands on his desk next to him. Now less than a meter away. "Seems like you're still holding onto yours." He turned back around and continued grading the work. "That's because I got a good grip." Beaming down at him with her bright magenta orbs. He was convinced she did whatever it took to make herself completely pink. The eye contacts, hair dye. If she dressed in pink it would've confirmed she was literally bubblegum. "You don't have a good grip, you're just afraid to let go." The sounds of the keys on the keyboard suddenly seemed to be the only sound in the room now, because she stopped talking after that.

She hoisted herself up and sat on the desk, he would've been mad about her sitting on it but he didn't really care. Trying to change the subject, she just asked a question that was the most common and obvious icebreaker. "What time is it?" He looked to the bottom right corner of his monitor. "Seven PM." She just pursed her lips and awkwardly nodded and looked around the classroom. "Now that I think about it, what do you even teach your class?" She noticed his classroom was a lot more.. well, bland. Compared to her's anyway. "Standard subjects they'll need for middle school or life in general." He looked down at the pile of sheets then back to the computer.

She sighed and looked down at him, puffing out one cheek. "I'm bored." He groaned and pulled out of the desk a bit to look at her. "Seriously? We're meant to be working on ideas for tomorrow. We can't just go in on a whole 'Spur of the moment' thing." He folded his arms and scowled up at her. Unlike her, he was experienced in scowling. Master if you will. She attempted to reciprocate the face but just scrunched her nose and giggled at her antics. He had to look away to hide any kind of blush that spread across his face from that. "How about we search something up?" She hopped off and placed a hand on his shoulder, leaning down to look at the computer screen a little too close. He flinched at her touch giving her a short uncomfortable glare that she couldn't see and just let out a sigh and looked at the monitor with her. She subconsciously shoved him over slightly and stuck her tongue out as she typed down 'ideas for school festivals' in the search bar.

A few results came up, the concert they had already sugges-- correction, she suggested. Then a result came up that formed a smile on her face. "A dance! It's perfect!" She threw her hands in the air excitedly and he let out a sigh of relief that she wasn't so close to him anymore. Then realizing what she had just said. "Woah, wait a minute. A dance? Are you serious!?"

"Of course I'm serious! It's gonna be so awesome! We can all decorate, and we can even sell cupcakes! Maybe we can bake them! And then--!" She was about to continue rambling until he cut her off. "Alright! Slow down-- a dance is a little over the top for the festival." He put his hands in front of her as a signal for her to calm down and stop. He felt kind of guilty when he saw the frown that formed on her face. "But, if you're set on the whole baking idea." He stood up, arms folded and looking down at her. "We could try a bakesale maybe." A bake sale was probably a good idea for both of their classes, it didn't cause any trouble or drama between the students and it'd keep them preoccupied for the next few days until the festival. He was proud of his idea when he saw the smile that formed on her face. "Oh my God. That's amazing! A bakesale's a perfect idea!" She chimed then brought a finger in front of her face, using her right index finger to list off all the things they could do. "We could do themed cupcakes like, animals, colors, maybe even cultures! Ooh, cultures would be fun then we could get to design flags and maybe put them on those little sticks they put in cupcakes that have little sti--"

"How do you manage to ramble so much..?" He brought one arm to his temple trying to calm down the growing headache that was forming. She brought her hands down to her side and mumbled an apology. "Okay, so tomorrow morning before school starts we'll meet at the home economics classroom. It's filled with all the appliances we need and there should be enough to keep each student busy." He turned back to his chair and took off his jacket which was hanging on the back and put his arms through it. "Got it, what time?" She smiled at him over her shoulder as she walked over to grab her coat that she left half hanging off one of the stacked tables and threw it over her shoulder. "Seven AM good?" He walked over to the classroom door looking at her as she followed him. "Perfect!" She walked out as he opened the door, he trailed behind her before locking the door and they walked down the hallway towards the stairs. "I guess everybody else went home." She looked around at all the classrooms, each teacher was assigned to another that worked with the same grade to work on an idea for the spring festival. Hence why Branch and Poppy were paired together for the event.

He walked down the stairs, only a few steps ahead of his female companion as she decided it'd be fun to try hop over every second step that she could get the chance to. She was counting to see what half the steps were and he thought she couldn't get any more childish. "Seventeen... Eighteen--" Her voice wavered as she wobbled slightly on her foot but continued. "Nineteen.." He had reached the end of the stairs and turned around waiting for her to get the last step over with. "Yeah, yeah the last one's twenty. We get it." He folded his arms and stared up at her. "I'm still gonna count it! That twentieth step could feel lonely!" She puffed at him still standing on one foot. "Twen- AH!" Her foot skidded off the step and she flew forward. "GAH!"

Branch flew back from her impact on him and they both landed, ending up on the ground. She was on top of him. Now they were both looking at each other. Great. She honestly should've been more careful, or at least held the railing. Why didn't he warn her about that before!? He probably should've, it would've kept them far far away from this specific situation. Did I mention she was on top of him? The way her long pink locks cascaded off of her shoulders like a beautiful waterfall down to drape against his. Or that sweet strawberry scent that came from her that was intoxicating him. Or the fact her chest was pressed up against his. Or her eyes, that shined so beautifully staring right back into his. Or the way the beautiful light above outlined her entire figure perfectly. Even with the slight shadow, he could count each and every freckle she owned. The one's that she considered to be the stars of her students that she kept close. Or the beautiful rose color that fled across her face, dusting the bridge of her nose and it's source coming from her cheeks. He could've stared, staying there forever and not have a single complaint at all.

Footsteps and voices were heard from down the hall and they immediately scrambled to get out of their previous position, Branch clearing his throat, pulling at his shirt collar while Poppy put her hands on her face trying to cool herself down. Though the ground was pretty cold, that situation caused both of them to heat up fairly quickly. "So then he asked if-- Oh, hey Branch, Poppy!" A man wearing black slacks and an overtop almost musical theater themed glittering silver vest came into view from around the corner. Guy Diamond, he mainly only came around during events when one of the teachers asked for his assistance if they were doing anything theater themed. He'd grown accustomed to the school and now teaches theater full-time. "What are you two doing here so late after school hours? It's like.." The glittery dressed man checked his watch. "Seven-thirty PM." He brought his attention back to the awkwardly blushing pair.

"Your aura is a bit stranger than usual, Poppy.." The Silvery man's companion now announced his presence. Creek, he taught the fourth graders. He was especially good at teaching them about meditation and how to relax which often helped them during tests. "M-My aura? N-Nothing's wrong with my aura! I, uh.. --Branch! Here.. told me a-a funny joke! That's why I'm in a bit of a funny mood! R-Right! Buddy!?" She wrapped her arm around the taller raven-haired male which only made it even worse for him. "Y-Yuh-huh.." He just nodded his head as they both had terrified smiles on their faces. Creek and Guy Diamond looked at each other before nodding and squinting their eyes and studying the two for a second, Poppy gave a nervous chuckle. Hoping it would lead them to believe nothing happened, her arm still wrapped around Branch. Soon Creek and Guy Diamond pulled back, and their interrogating squinted eyes returned to normal. "Alright, well. We'll be going then." Guy Diamond gave a departing smile and a wave while walking by Branch and Poppy. Creek studied them for one more second before looking at Poppy and turning his face into a soft subtle smile. "See you tomorrow, then." "Right! See ya!" She smiled back at the blue-green ombre-haired male that walked around them down the hallway. Allowing Poppy to finally let out that breath she'd been holding in.

"Whew.." She brought her hand to her stomach as she breathed out. "Jeez-- that was scary.." Branch was still frozen in place, all of that happened so fast. He just wanted to be staring into her eyes again. Her eyes only. He wanted to go back to admiring every freckle on her face, he wanted to go back to having her chest pr-

He quickly gasped and covered his mouth, heat instantly rising towards his face as he stumbled back completely terrified by his thoughts. "Are you okay..?" Poppy came closer and tilted her head slightly to the side. Please don't go any closer, it'll only make it worse... "I- Everything's fine I just.. forgot something.." He shrugged his jacket up to rest more comfortably on his shoulders and quickly made a move for the stairs. "Ooh! Now that you mention that I think I left my bag.." She giggled sheepishly and he froze midway up the third step. He didn't turn to look at her and just responded. "I'll go get it, you just wait here." And he continued walking up the stairs, hearing her shuffle her feet around a good distance behind him now.

He continued on his way up the stairs and eventually reached the top, had to cut him some slack considering the stairs were pretty large. He reached the classroom and unlocked the door, originally he had just planned to hide in there and wait till she left but now he had to get something for her so she was obviously going to wait. Maybe he could just use these few seconds alone to calm down? He took in a deep breath and exhaled. He blew on his thumb which was a tactic that calmed a person's heart rate, it had worked thank God. He walked over grabbing her bag and he'd just pretend he forgot his keys or something. He opened the door and made his way for the stairs again, seeing her sitting on the last step waiting while going through her phone, her thumb gliding up and down the screen. He headed down and stood behind her, holding the bag out right in front of her to scare her. While it did scare her, it wasn't in the way he planned.

He didn't expect the bag to end up whacking her in the face.

"Ow-!" She put her hand over her nose and looked up at him. "S-Sorry! That wasn't what I was trying to do it was meant to just scare you a bit an-" He was cut off by the sound of small chuckles below him. She stood up and took the bag while smiling at him. "I know you didn't mean it." That was a.. less energetic smile than usual? It was honestly like one of the smiles Creek would give her except that kind of smile she did was genuine and wasn't creepy like his. That smile actually suited her. And it was torture to his heart. He could just make his way home and panic about whatever happened when he was alone. Now was not the time to have a whole freak out just because he can't comprehend emotions and feelings. Especially not in the presence of the person who was giving him a whole freak out. "Alright so," She began walking down the hallway towards the school doors and he followed, walking slightly faster to catch up to her before matching their pace. "We set up all the baking equipment we need for our classes, we'll each give our respective classes their small ten-minute intermission before class begins. And then we'll announce the classes merging for the spring festival and meet with our classes at the home economics room. Haha, I'm so good at planning.~" Poppy gave her self a smug smile as she marched down the hallway triumphantly, Branch by her side.

"You--.. Are literally the weirdest person I've ever met.." He squinted his eyes and shrunk slightly away from her while walking alongside her. "Is that a bad thing?" She flashed him a curious look that struck his heart so badly he couldn't just tell her 'Yes, it is now cut it out.' She looked like she'd get upset if he said anything that would hurt her feelings. He took in a breath and sighed before turning his head to his left to face away from her and quietly answered almost in a hushed whisper. "No.." He could practically feel the amount of sunshine coming from her after he had given his answer. At least it made her happy. "Well, then I think you're pretty weird too." She beamed up at him and he just looked at her, trying to figure out if she meant that as a compliment or not. Once they reached the rather large entrance of the school, Poppy spun around on her left heel to face him. "I shall see you tomorrow, comrade!" She stuck her hand out for him to shake it. "Comra--?" "Just shake my hand." Her face deadpanned jokingly as she interrupted him before returning to it's usual smile when he took hold of her's.

Her hands were extremely soft, and smaller compared to his. Once she let go she used her right hand to hold onto her shoulder bag. Marching towards the door she saluted him. "See ya, buddy! -Ooh! Wait!" She quickly ran back over to him and eagerly scanned his jacket, he looked down at her confused before she asked. "You got your phone on ya?" She smiled at him and made direct eye contact that made him freeze for a moment. "Uhh- yeah.." He reached into his pocket and held it out in front of him, about to unlock it. Before he could even say anything she had immediately snatched it. "HEY-!" She didn't pay any mind to him and just began typing in a bunch of numbers as the seemingly white screen shined across her face, revealing her freckles. "Boo-bee-doo-beep-boop. Done!" She held the phone out to his face and he squinted as the bright screen hit his eyes, bringing his hand up and using it as a shield to keep the light from blinding him. As he brought his hand down he noticed she'd put her number in his contacts. "Woah-Woah... what's this for?" He took the phone and looked down at it. "It's in case anything happens! Like we forgot something during planning you can just text or call me!" She brought her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on her feet. His eyes widened as he stared at his phone at the final words of her sentence. He flickered his eyes between her and the phone as a blush came across his face.

He quickly turned the phone off so the illumination wouldn't give away the new color that was tinted across his face. Before he could reply, she had ruffled up his hair leaving it slightly messy. "Bye-bye!" She made her way to the door for the second time, opening it and heading off. He stared blankly at her through the large windows just blinking and completely red. He was gonna have to learn to get used to her physical contact, he couldn't act like that in front of the class. They'd tease him relentlessly. He shook his head and brought himself back towards reality, out of his little thought bubble. He noticed the light for the janitor's storage room was on. Assuming that the janitor was still there, he wouldn't have to bother with getting the keys to lock the main entrance. Walking over and standing under the outstretched roof that was used as a shelter for the rain, it became useful considering it was raining. He threw his hood over his head and headed towards outside of the school's courtyard.

You had got to be kidding him. He noticed those familiar bubblegum pink strands across the street being sheltered by only a bag. Water droplets going down her face as if they were tears, except it was quite evident they weren't. She wasn't the type to cry in the rain just for the sake of being dramatic--. Okay, maybe she would, but only for the sole purpose of recreating a movie scene maybe. She was looking up at the sky from underneath her bag which was blocking some of her vision. The clouds blocking every star in the sky. But it didn't hide those beautiful ones on her face. He couldn't even think straight around her and now he'd have no choice but to help her in this situation.

Even if she couldn't see or notice him walk away and ignore her, he couldn't leave her like that. Not in the rain. Only because she'd probably catch a cold though, not because he genuinely wanted to help her. In fact, he'd like to be as far away as possible. But he had no choice, did he? He took a deep breath and walked over, unzipping his jacket. She didn't take notice of him approaching, taking the bag that was shielding her from the rain down from her head. Pouting up at the rain in frustration, she should've checked the weather forecast before heading out to the school. She pulled out her phone checking for the nearest bus stop and when the next bus would arrive. She sighed and whispered to herself. "..Nine P-- Oomph--!"

She felt something get thrown over her completely blocking her vision, but also stopping the rain from pouring down on her. She pulled the soft material away from her face and looked for where it'd come from. She turned around and saw a taller raven-haired male towering over her. Water droplets dripping from his hair onto his face although it didn't make him flinch. He just stood there arms folded, looking down at her with his usual stoic expression. Suddenly, he spoke up. "My jacket has a hood, yours doesn't. You shouldn't have been that careless." He peered down at her with slight disappointment but she could see the worry behind his eyes. "What are you--.." She spoke just above a whisper before shaking her head from side to side in realization. "Wait-- what about you--" 

"I don't mind." He cut her voice off like a knife through butter, she just blinked up at him. Before she could say anything he took off. Not even saying bye or anything, just turned on his foot and walked off. She felt bad but somehow couldn't bring herself to tell him to take the jacket back. She also noticed that it was still warm from his body heat and smelled like him. He may not have heard her but she said it anyway, the meaning all meant the same whether he heard it or not.

"Thanks.."


End file.
